In today's computerized cashless world, there is an increasing use of access elements in the form of coded cards, for instance bank credit cards, code keys and the like, for enabling access to cash dispensers, petrol pumps, door locks, dator equipments or the like. In order to reduce the risk that any unauthorized person will use the access elements, it is recommended that the authorized person should memorise the alphanumeric sequences but not record them anywhere, or at least store such recorded sequences separately from the access elements.
Memory aiding devices have been proposed, where a possessor of a multitude of different sequences only has to remember one single password, which enables each one of the sequences to be retrieved. Such aiding devices are disclosed in GB-A-2 261 540, DK-B-164 309, EP-A-0 382 410 and EP-A-0 546 681.
The known methods are based upon the use of very bulky patterns of numerals where the correct sequences are hidden among a plurality of other numerals. A separate code key, for instance a slide means or a transparent window means, is then used to expose the correct sequence by use of a password which defines a correct orientation of the code key.
The known aiding devices are bulky and are so cumbersome to use, that they often require that the authorized person has to sit down at a table in order to accurately manage to handle the aiding means and retrieve the correct sequence. For a person standing in the street in a bank cash machine queue it would hardly be possible to readily retrieve the correct sequence by means of such cumbersome aiding means.